'diet' sodas actually substantially contribute to weight gain.
I've heard this one before. You know that defys the laws of physics right? A diet soda is: carbonated water, citric and/or phosphoric acid, flavor and a non-sugar related sweetener. There is nothing there that your body can convert to and store as body fat (or muscle for that matter, though I doubt anyone would complain if that was the case) so unless they are adding chemicals that turn your body photosynthetic and allow you to turn all that CO2 and water into glucose I don't see how this is even remotely possible.
The place I've seen this claimed said that the study involved looking at the type of people who drink these drinks and found that alot of them were fat. Duh, the people most likely to drink a diet drink are probably doing so in an attempt to lose weight, not the other way around (the same source also claims that smoking ain't all that bad, and while I agree that occasional smoking isn't that bad, it goes on the claim that it improves your health which kind of throws their credability out the window).
It's like saying that treadmills cause you to get out of shape because alot of people using them aren't in shape. Diet sodas do cause temporary weight gain, but it tends to disappear after a visit to the bathroom. (note: if you can tell me what his thorough scientific explanation is I'd like to hear it. I looked at the list of "scientific" papers but didn't find anything related to this topic.)
Huh? Talk about bad information here. First off, dextromethorphan is not a stimulant. In fact it's a mild sedative at any dose (including doses within the medicinal range). Second, the dose ranges you provide are off. Oral lethal doses are estimated to be somewhere between 50-500mg/kg. I'm assuming you typoed saying that psychedelic/dissociative (it's not a hallucinogen) doses start at.5mg/kg and actually meant 5mg/kg.
3g for "one girl" is way beyond the amount needed for a trip. Lets say she's 60kg, that's 50mg/kg. A dose like that sounds more like a suicide attempt. The medicinal dose range is between 10 and 50mg so I can't see how a child could be given 50mg/kg under any circumstances, much less a sick child. The maximum dose for a psychedelic experience is about 1.5g and that's for a large, non-sensetive and tolerant person. Common doses are between 200 and 400mg. I don't know where you heard that DXM is a stimulant but please don't go about recommending that people use it for that purpose, much less suggesting that people go and extract it.
To the original topic, I'd say that none of the energy drinks available are worth the money, especially since most of them don't do much. Caffeine is limited to pretty low amounts in soft drinks and "energy" drinks don't have much more. Last I checked they averaged about 110mg per serving, about the same as a cup of coffee. The difference is that coffee contains alkaloids that counteract the effect of caffeine and thus it's not as effective. Guarana is no different that "regular" caffeine except that guarana contains fats that slow the absorption of caffeine giving the illusion of a stronger effect (caffeine has a pretty short half life).
Most of the so-called "reviews" of these drinks are bogus (as with many supplements, they are often paid for by the company) and their studies to back them up, while usually true (in that they exist), are not of real importance as they often take them out of context (for example, one energy supplement I saw contained tyramine. They referenced studies showing it's effect on andregenic receptors but failed to mention that tyramine is a mono-amine that is destroyed by your body by MAO when taken orally and thus has no effect). There are many useful supplements but you need to do plenty of research instead of just reading the marketspeak (I've seen them make up words before). The additional ingredients are worthless, vitamins are useful but none of them will give you any noticable energy (especially since people using these drinks are likely to take a multi every day anyway) and most of the other ingredients are either in too small an amount to be useful or don't do anything at all.
Now, depending on how much of a boost you want and for what purpose there are several things. First, there is caffeine (duh). I would recommend getting it in tablet form since it's insanely cheap compared to drinks (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sf/caffeine.htm l - that's the equivalent of 400 red bulls for 7 bucks). It's better to take a small amount every hour or so (depends on your sensetivity, start small) than to take a mega dose. I won't recommend any doses since this varies alot from person to person, it's best to work your way up and figure out your ideal dose.
Then there is ephedrine. It has a much, much longer duration (up to 24 hours) and is available online (http://www.bulknutrition.com/ is the cheapest I've found) at reasonable prices. 25mg is enough for most people but 50mg is fine as well (wait at least an hour before taking any more though). You can combine both caffeine and ephedrine fine and if you do so, I recommend taking a regular strength aspirin as well (it makes it easier on your heart - thinner blood is easier to pump. Try it with and without, you'll notice a difference). Also, keep in mind that you build a tolerance with consistant u
This is normally true but by taking melatonin tablets you can shift yourself to virtually any sleep schedule. Your body normally releases melatonin when it's dark and between the hours that you mentioned (10PM-2AM). This is why if you stay up very late, it can be hard to fall asleep as you've missed the ideal time (this used to happen to me alot). If you change your sleep schedule in a way that contradicts normal lighting patterns you will have to keep taking melatonin every "night" to maintain it since light inhibits natural melatonin release and the opposite is true for darkness. It's quite effective for jetlag and you sleep much better overall with it. I think it should be promoted to people who have distorted sleep patterns (night-shift) since it can prevent many of the problems associated with that (With abnormal sleeping patterns not much is ever released and you always feel tired.).
Some info on doses -- the recommended ones (on the sides of bottles) are [somewhat] bogus. Most commercial supplements are 3mg, which is nowhere near enough. You usually need at least 9mg and if you're using it as a sedative 12-30mg is a more reasonable dosage. You can use it at quite high dosages and the dose to effect ratio is pretty linear until about 60mg where, at least in my experience, there are rapidly diminishing returns. Keep in mind that at almost any dosage above 6mg you will sleep for a little longer than usual but there is no hangover at any sane dose.
Apparently it can be safely administered chronically at 75mg/day for several weeks with satisfactory results (1).
It's really sad that the commercial melatonin products are often misleading and are often sold at doses too low (sometimes as low as 300 micrograms) to have any real effect. It's also hideously overpriced in most cases (I've seen prices ranging from 15$ for 60 tablets to $1.89 for 100).
Actually, the difference is that Celcius is a linear scale and Fahrenheit isn't. 64 F is not half the actual temperature of 128 F. With pounds and kilos you can divide or multiply either by one number to get the other, not so with F and C.
I hope there's a foot of lead included in that shielding somewhere. To me that would seem the most vital shielding they could provide.
Lead? If you're talking about radiation shielding then there is no need. Concrete stops all types of radiation. Lead won't stop neutrons or gamma rays if I remember correctly.
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Wow, you're the worst spellerer I've seen in ages. You must be really drunk, how else could you manage to spell "Saddam" instead of "George W. Bush"?
'diet' sodas actually substantially contribute to weight gain.
I've heard this one before. You know that defys the laws of physics right? A diet soda is: carbonated water, citric and/or phosphoric acid, flavor and a non-sugar related sweetener. There is nothing there that your body can convert to and store as body fat (or muscle for that matter, though I doubt anyone would complain if that was the case) so unless they are adding chemicals that turn your body photosynthetic and allow you to turn all that CO2 and water into glucose I don't see how this is even remotely possible.
The place I've seen this claimed said that the study involved looking at the type of people who drink these drinks and found that alot of them were fat. Duh, the people most likely to drink a diet drink are probably doing so in an attempt to lose weight, not the other way around (the same source also claims that smoking ain't all that bad, and while I agree that occasional smoking isn't that bad, it goes on the claim that it improves your health which kind of throws their credability out the window).
It's like saying that treadmills cause you to get out of shape because alot of people using them aren't in shape. Diet sodas do cause temporary weight gain, but it tends to disappear after a visit to the bathroom. (note: if you can tell me what his thorough scientific explanation is I'd like to hear it. I looked at the list of "scientific" papers but didn't find anything related to this topic.)
Huh? Talk about bad information here. First off, dextromethorphan is not a stimulant. In fact it's a mild sedative at any dose (including doses within the medicinal range). Second, the dose ranges you provide are off. Oral lethal doses are estimated to be somewhere between 50-500mg/kg. I'm assuming you typoed saying that psychedelic/dissociative (it's not a hallucinogen) doses start at .5mg/kg and actually meant 5mg/kg.
3g for "one girl" is way beyond the amount needed for a trip. Lets say she's 60kg, that's 50mg/kg. A dose like that sounds more like a suicide attempt. The medicinal dose range is between 10 and 50mg so I can't see how a child could be given 50mg/kg under any circumstances, much less a sick child. The maximum dose for a psychedelic experience is about 1.5g and that's for a large, non-sensetive and tolerant person. Common doses are between 200 and 400mg. I don't know where you heard that DXM is a stimulant but please don't go about recommending that people use it for that purpose, much less suggesting that people go and extract it.
To the original topic, I'd say that none of the energy drinks available are worth the money, especially since most of them don't do much. Caffeine is limited to pretty low amounts in soft drinks and "energy" drinks don't have much more. Last I checked they averaged about 110mg per serving, about the same as a cup of coffee. The difference is that coffee contains alkaloids that counteract the effect of caffeine and thus it's not as effective. Guarana is no different that "regular" caffeine except that guarana contains fats that slow the absorption of caffeine giving the illusion of a stronger effect (caffeine has a pretty short half life).
Most of the so-called "reviews" of these drinks are bogus (as with many supplements, they are often paid for by the company) and their studies to back them up, while usually true (in that they exist), are not of real importance as they often take them out of context (for example, one energy supplement I saw contained tyramine. They referenced studies showing it's effect on andregenic receptors but failed to mention that tyramine is a mono-amine that is destroyed by your body by MAO when taken orally and thus has no effect). There are many useful supplements but you need to do plenty of research instead of just reading the marketspeak (I've seen them make up words before). The additional ingredients are worthless, vitamins are useful but none of them will give you any noticable energy (especially since people using these drinks are likely to take a multi every day anyway) and most of the other ingredients are either in too small an amount to be useful or don't do anything at all.
Now, depending on how much of a boost you want and for what purpose there are several things. First, there is caffeine (duh). I would recommend getting it in tablet form since it's insanely cheap compared to drinks (http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/sf/caffeine.htm l - that's the equivalent of 400 red bulls for 7 bucks). It's better to take a small amount every hour or so (depends on your sensetivity, start small) than to take a mega dose. I won't recommend any doses since this varies alot from person to person, it's best to work your way up and figure out your ideal dose.
Then there is ephedrine. It has a much, much longer duration (up to 24 hours) and is available online (http://www.bulknutrition.com/ is the cheapest I've found) at reasonable prices. 25mg is enough for most people but 50mg is fine as well (wait at least an hour before taking any more though). You can combine both caffeine and ephedrine fine and if you do so, I recommend taking a regular strength aspirin as well (it makes it easier on your heart - thinner blood is easier to pump. Try it with and without, you'll notice a difference). Also, keep in mind that you build a tolerance with consistant u
This is normally true but by taking melatonin tablets you can shift yourself to virtually any sleep schedule. Your body normally releases melatonin when it's dark and between the hours that you mentioned (10PM-2AM). This is why if you stay up very late, it can be hard to fall asleep as you've missed the ideal time (this used to happen to me alot). If you change your sleep schedule in a way that contradicts normal lighting patterns you will have to keep taking melatonin every "night" to maintain it since light inhibits natural melatonin release and the opposite is true for darkness. It's quite effective for jetlag and you sleep much better overall with it. I think it should be promoted to people who have distorted sleep patterns (night-shift) since it can prevent many of the problems associated with that (With abnormal sleeping patterns not much is ever released and you always feel tired.).
Some info on doses -- the recommended ones (on the sides of bottles) are [somewhat] bogus. Most commercial supplements are 3mg, which is nowhere near enough. You usually need at least 9mg and if you're using it as a sedative 12-30mg is a more reasonable dosage. You can use it at quite high dosages and the dose to effect ratio is pretty linear until about 60mg where, at least in my experience, there are rapidly diminishing returns. Keep in mind that at almost any dosage above 6mg you will sleep for a little longer than usual but there is no hangover at any sane dose.
Apparently it can be safely administered chronically at 75mg/day for several weeks with satisfactory results (1).
It's really sad that the commercial melatonin products are often misleading and are often sold at doses too low (sometimes as low as 300 micrograms) to have any real effect. It's also hideously overpriced in most cases (I've seen prices ranging from 15$ for 60 tablets to $1.89 for 100).
(1): TIHKAL, #35. Melatonin, page 519.
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Actually, the difference is that Celcius is a linear scale and Fahrenheit isn't. 64 F is not half the actual temperature of 128 F. With pounds and kilos you can divide or multiply either by one number to get the other, not so with F and C.
I hope there's a foot of lead included in that shielding somewhere. To me that would seem the most vital shielding they could provide.
Lead? If you're talking about radiation shielding then there is no need. Concrete stops all types of radiation. Lead won't stop neutrons or gamma rays if I remember correctly.